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OPINION

Bill Minor: Lawmaker derails good bills, dodges blame

Published 10:31 p.m. CT Feb. 12, 2015

Bill Minor is a Mississippi syndicated political columnist and author(Photo: Special to The Clarion-Ledger)

A past master at monkey wrench throwing is Republican Rep. Bill Denny of Jackson, who at 84 is believed to be the oldest member of the Legislature.

Last week, an apparent unrepentant Denny weighed in as an advocate for a lifesaving law to bar motorists from texting while driving. A year ago, he scuttled the same measure with a trick maneuver on the session’s final day.

In 2014, the measure had cleared a joint House-Senate conference committee and was seemingly headed to the desk of Gov. Phil Bryant, who backed the anti-texting law as part of his plan to cut down on highway deaths. Forty-three states already have similar laws.

Lawmakers were already packed and ready to leave for home at the 2014 session. Historically, no floor action is taken in the final four days before the already agreed-to sine die adjournment (official end). Only a bare quorum of House members remained when Denny walked into the chamber and was recognized by Speaker Philip Gunn to make a motion.

Denny knows from his long legislative experience that on the final day of a session a usually routine reconsideration motion on any particular already-passed bill is a killer motion.

Members had no idea the tall Jackson lawmaker was about to slap a reconsideration motion on the texting bill that previously had passed overwhelmingly. Denny contended later handlers of the bill had not made it clear that it applied to all drivers, not just teenagers. Hogwash. Denny’s argument was ridiculous: the language in the bill was clear that it applied to all drivers.

How many drivers have died on state roads while sending or answering text messages during the past year is not known, but evidently the Mississippi Highway Patrol has seen an increase in accidents and deaths from driver texting. The patrol has launched a campaign on TV warning against texting while driving although it has no law covering all drivers.

When his texting bill was being debated the other day, Denny tried to disclaim responsibility for killing the bill last year. “Their tongues aren’t connected to their brains,” Denny said of his critics.

Reminds you of what Sen. John Breaux of Louisiana used to say when taxes were raised. “Don’t blame me, blame that fellow behind the tree” was Breaux’ line.

Denny’s texting fiasco revives memories of how he gummed up Mississippi’s compliance with federal voting laws passed by Congress in the 1990’s and again in 2002. Motor Voter was a plan in the 90s to let people register to vote at the same time they were applying for their driver’s license or doing business with a federal agency. After the debacle in the 2000 presidential election Congress also enacted the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA). Denny, who was then head of the House Elections Committee stuck amendments into the state’s attempted compliance with both federal laws that the feds found unacceptable.

In the case of Motor Voter, his amendment would have forced circuit clerks to maintain two separate voter rolls — with persons who registered via Motor Voter only eligible to vote in federal elections. It was an idea almost universally opposed by the clerks.

With HAVA, compliance entitled states to receive additional federal funds to upgrade their voting system. But Denny’s attempt to tack a Voter ID amendment disqualified Mississippi from getting the funds. Finally, then-Secretary of State Eric Clark worked out a compromise with the feds to neutralize Denny’s move to screw up the compliance measure.

But Bill Denny seems never at a loss for old tricks, even when his monkey wrench may have cost the loss of life on Mississippi’s highways.